[Oe List ...] Twins all grown up

[Marilyn R Crocker]

Dear Joan,

I wonder whatever would any parents of twins (or singles) born during
those days of missional engagement have done without innumerable House
colleagues who literally "saved the day" in the kind of ways you
referenced below.

Our gratitude for helping us raise our twins will be felt, lifelong, and
with respect to so very many colleagues. But especially I think of:
Ray Spencer, who at age 19 was assigned by the Sydney House to Day 1
infant care (2 Crockers, 2 Mortons, 1 Duffy) and was so grounded in
imaginal ed that he donned his red (Fifth City) smock, and banged a
special gong to announce nappie changing time.  I might add, Ray was also
doing a number of other management tasks, like negotiating the lowest
price possible on case loads of lamb brains & liver and strained veggies
for our voracious infants; keeping the house books, marketing courses;
etc..  So -- it's no wonder he became a father of twins himself, and a
CEO of far less demanding enterprises :)
Jeanette Stanfield, who became "in loco parentis" for Jon and Ben in
Sydney while Joe and I taught in the summer program in Perth on the other
side of the continent.  I teased her about getting to care for our kids
when they were at the sweetest age of all (or so everyone says of 6 month
olds).
Sally and Jim Fenton who stood in for us for a whole year when Jon and
Ben were 5 and Joe and I left them in New York for a year to facilitate
the consults for the first 8 HDPs.  Jim Fenton initiated our kids' first
"allowance" -- it was 10 cents, and did they feel rich and empowered!
Nan Bailey, who took a whole year off from high school to care for 5
preschool EG (including ours) in the New York House the year we were
"temporarily located in Paterson, NJ".  Nan managed to get our boys potty
trained just before they turned 3, and just in time for them to go to
"camp" with the other kids -- I think it was in Indiana that year (1973).
 Nan ended up graduating from high school ahead of schedule and excelled
at all subsequent higher ed and professional pursuits.
All the dedicated, creative staff of the Student House from '81-'84 who
provided a context of nurture, discipline and missional focus to our
kids.
The Lamphears in India and the Works in Venezuela who served as guardians
for the watershed 9th grade deployment year that returned to us "young
men."
Ah, the memories.

Marilyn

On Thu, 8 Nov 2007 17:26:49 EST Jfknutson at aol.com writes:
I could write a book about the twins.  I was in the San Francisco house
with the Wiegels when the twins were turning two.  Jim and Judy were to
take a trip around Area West to see what was happening with the houses
and four human development projects.  The rest of us were whispering
nervously to each other,  "Have you heard who is going to be taking care
of the twins and Jenny when they go?"  No answer seemed to be apparent. 
So at our last prior's meeting before they left, I summoned up the
courage to ask the question aloud.  This was Jim's answer:  "It appears
this house has an issue with child care so we think we should ask the
person that would seem to be the most impossible to do it.  So we are
asking Joan Knutson ( I was the house prior and had a full time job!)  I
would get up an hour earlier (and I trust you will remember how early
that was, get dressed for work, put a house dress over my clothes, get
the bags packed, lunches packed and then tackle getting the twins up,
take them to worship, take them to children's breakfast, retrieve them,
clean them up again, take them to preschool, pull the house dress off and
went off to work looking like a perfectly sane person.
 
But the one story I tell any time I get the chance is when David Rebstock
was on child care.  Ellen had begged us not to put David on child care. 
We had about 12 children and she was convinced he could not handle them
and it would be a disaster.  We tried to avoid asking David as every day
he drove to San Jose (not an easy commute) and had a very responsible
job.  But one evening there was no one else.  So David was on child care.
 I was in a meeting in the basement collegium room.  David was giving the
children their baths on the second floor.  He put the twins in one
bathtub, two more kids in a bathtub just down the hall, etc.  All of a
sudden we heard screams from the second floor.  Ellen looked and me and I
looked at her and we ran.  The twins had gotten out of the tub and found
a jar of Vaseline and had smeared it all over each other and were
screaming with delight.  It was on the door knobs, on the floor; the
twins were running up and down the hall.  We couldn't catch them as they
squirt through our fingers and we were slipping and sliding on the floor.
 I was always grateful Ellen never said I told you so.  
 
Our life together would not have been so colorful if it hadn't been for
the Wiegel twins.  I adore them to this day.   Joan Knutson






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Marilyn R. Crocker, Ed.D
Crocker & Associates, Inc.
123 Sanborn Road
West Newfield, ME 04095
(207) 793-3711
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